German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine and withdraw his troops in a telephone conversation today, while also stressing that Germany would continue to support Ukraine for as long as necessary, Reuters reported. referring to a spokesman of the German government, writes BTA.
Scholz also told Putin that Russia should prepare for talks with Ukraine to achieve a just and lasting peace, the spokesman added.
The German chancellor has indicated to the Russian president that the deployment of North Korean troops in Russia for combat operations against Ukraine represents a serious escalation and expansion of the conflict.
According to the government spokesman, Scholz spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before his conversation with Putin and will speak with Zelensky again afterwards.
The conversation between the two leaders lasted an hour and was the first in almost two years, DPA notes. Scholz mentioned last weekend that he wants to resume dialogue with Putin “soon” to discuss the conflict in Ukraine.
„We have to see if there are ways to find out if this war will go on forever, or if we can find ways to end it,” the chancellor told German public television on Sunday.
Scholz's last phone conversation with Putin was in December 2022, when the chancellor called for a diplomatic solution to the conflict and the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine. Russia launched its full-scale attack on Ukraine in February 2022.